InvertY.com
A Gaming Diary
Orbital (iPhone)
Feb 23rd
I’m definitely getting better at Gravity mode and I’m sure my average score is climbing, but I couldn’t get another new high score yesterday.
As pretty as ever.
I think I might move on to Pure mode for a while. It’s unpopular and scores are low, so I’m hoping I can get some decent points there.
Supernova mode is where most of the action is these days, but it’s a bit too competitive right now.
Words With Friends (iPhone)
Feb 23rd
My tactics are very simple. Try to score as many points as possible without opening up any of Triple Word squares unless I absolutely have to. Seems very simple and obvious, you’d think, but I’m playing a couple of people at the moment who actually seem to be trying to open up Triple Words for me. It’s very gratifying, but a bit odd.
Not a bad score for one letter.
Also, I’ve found, it’s not a good idea to gamble. If you notice that a letter can be added to a word you play that will get your opponent a huge number of points, it’s almost always the case that they’ll have that letter. Always assume your opponent has at least one S, for example. That way you won’t be caught out.
Orbital (iPhone)
Feb 22nd
Spent hours – hours! – last night trying to beat my high score in Gravity mode. Some of my Facebook friends have got this now, so I can see exactly how bad I am compared to people I know. I don’t mind being worse than strangers, but it’s different when it’s your own chums.
Anyway, after hours and hours I got a slightly better high score… and then proceeded to destroy it, getting me a score of fifty-four and putting me top of my friends list.
Take that, friend people!
It’s still not as good as the score I had before I had to change my iPhone, but it’s respectable now – and will be until my friends beat it again.
According to my stats page I’ve spent about nine hours on the game now, not including the time I played on my old iPhone. That’s not bad value for, um, however much I paid for it. I think I bought it when it was £1.79. Not that it matters. 59p, £1.79, there’s not a lot of difference when a game’s this good.
Guerrilla Bob (iPhone)
Feb 22nd
Guerilla Bob is a decent, level-based twin-stick shooter. You run from one end of the level to the other, killing everyone in your way.
There are three weapons to choose from, with associated strengths and weakness. The rocket launcher is powerful and has splash damage, but has a slow rate of fire, for example. As you might expect, there are also power-ups to pick up, often just slightly off the main route through the level.
Sometimes it's day, sometimes it's night - just like real life!
The controls are decent, the graphics are nice and it’s certainly not a bad game at all. It isn’t one of the very best iPhone games, but at the sale price of 59p you’re definitely not going to regret buying it. Think of it as Commando without grenades, or something.
Also, though, it gets extra points for using a cigar as your health bar. I like that a lot. Mind you, in the current climate, I’m surprised Apple let that through, the big nannyish idiots.
Noby Noby Boy (iPhone/PS3)
Feb 22nd
Spend some Noby Noby Boy time on both versions over the weekend. The iPhone version had the most play overall, because I’ve always got it in the palm of my hand, but I had a great time with the PS3 version, too. Considering how simple both versions are, it’s amazing how long I can spend just playing with them. No goals, just simple toys.
Sir, we have captured the moon.
In the old days I might have messed around with a Rubik’s Cube, moving it around with no intention of solving it, or played around posing an action figure. Now I’ve got Noby Noby Boy. It certainly makes much more sense to think of both versions that way than to think of them as games.
Swerve Runner (iPhone)
Feb 22nd
In my last blog post about Swerve Runner I said that I’d be unlikely to go back before there was an update. That was Friday morning. On Friday evening, I did go back, and had a good time. On Saturday, there was an update. This update added an “Insanity” mode, which is the same as the regular game, but much, much faster.
I'll be dead in less than a second.
It’s a lot harder, obviously, but it’s not impossible and it’s huge amounts of fun. Okay, yes, sometimes you’re moving so fast that death is unavoidable, but the sheer thrill of travelling so quickly outweighs other concerns. I do believe I laughed with a mixture of disbelief and delight as I played, which is always a good sign.
The update also put a cap on the number of lives you can collect, which makes even the regular speeds more tense. All in all, a very good update to a very good game.
Words With Friends (iPhone)
Feb 22nd
It's a close one.
Thought it was about time I blogged about this again, just to say that I’m still playing it every day, even if I don’t actually mention it very often. Very little of note to report, though I’m having far too many games where I’m not getting any vowels. I’m sure it’s just a result of random chance, but it’s a bit odd. Also: annoying.
Yakuza 3 Demo (PS3)
Feb 22nd
P’shaw. I know the Yakuza games are much-loved by the Japanese and the three or four westerners who bother to buy them, but it’s another demo that did nothing for me. I started the game, went into a club, watched a dull cut scene, then found myself in a big fight against multiple enemies. The fighting controls felt stodgy and I had no idea how to kill the main foe. His health bar never moved, but I managed to get him to whip out a sword by hitting him when he was at the top of some stairs. No idea why it only happened there, but it was the same in two attempts. In both attempts, I couldn’t work out how the hell I was meant to fight the guy when he had his sword out and so died quickly.
Might be a great demo to show off how things have changed to fans of the series, but it didn’t work for me at all. Much as I hate lengthy hand-holding tutorials, a little pop-up box of tactical hints now and again might have been nice.
Heavy Rain Demo (PS3)
Feb 22nd
I loved Fahrenheit, so was looking forward to Heavy Rain. The demo, though, was just a little disappointing. It’s all very depressing, seems to mostly consist of barely-interactive cut scenes and the one action scene in the demo went on for so long as to become quite funny. Also, the visuals are nice but dim and the voice acting it all right by video game standards, but not good enough for the moody noir feel the game seems to be going for.
I’m intrigued by it all, but the demo didn’t sell the game to me at all.
Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 (PS3)
Feb 22nd
I do wish Marvel Vs. Capcom 2′s Easy difficulty setting was a bit, you know, easier. It’s still great fun to play for ten minutes here and there, but it’s not the type of game I’m going to be sitting down to play for extended sessions. In the old days I would have, but in the last decade or so it’s gone from a main meal to a snack, so I won’t be getting the practice I used to. A difficulty setting where I could win more than one fight would be lovely – and I don’t even win the first fight most of the time.
I would blame the controller, but I don’t think that’s the real issue. I think I’m just older, out of practice and generally just worse at the game than I used to be. I’ve never been great at fighting games, but as I’ve pushed into my mid-thirties I’ve definitely seen a reduction in my reaction times in games like this. I’m a long, long way from only being able to play turn-based games, but I’ve not got the lightning fast thumbs I had in my youth.
